Monday, October 20, 2008

Dedicated Server Firm, Layered Technologies, Deploys Managed Services Extension

Self-managed, dedicated server products and utility services firm, Layered Technologies, Inc.’s virtualization investments and acquisition of FastServers.net, have assisted in the extension of DEFCON managed services, including virtual machines.

John Pozadzides, Chief Marketing Officer at Layered Tech noted, ”For years, Layered Tech has created flexible solutions that remove server costs and complexity so that customers can focus on their core business and leave server management to us. The extension of DEFCON managed services to our Grid Layer virtual machines is another powerful value-creating tool for our customers. Our roots are as a hosting provider that works closely with customers, and we’re continuing to do that in the area of virtualization by giving our customers even greater choice when it comes to defining the amount of security, support, monitoring, and specialized software that is associated with their virtualization environment.”

The latest advance from Layered Tech now enables customers of its Grid Layer virtual machines (VM) to experience the same highly developed services available to its dedicated server clients.

DEFCON managed services mitigate challenges commonly associated with the operations of hosted infrastructure, providing a single source for server administration, service-level based support, 24×7 monitoring and recovery, patch management, and security protection. In addition to The Grid Layer VM offering, DEFCON managed services are available with Layered Tech’s on-demand, dedicated server solutions based on CentOS, Red Hat, and Windows 2003.

Tiered DEFCON managed services provide customers the freedom to choose the level of service they want to manage their servers. From DEFCON 5 (for those customers who want to manage all aspects of their server applications) to DEFCON 1 (in which Layered Tech provides the full scope of server management and monitoring), companies can customize their server operations, easily and quickly scaling up or down as their organizations grow and as needs change.

The benefits of transitioning to a hosted virtual machine environment are amplified for companies that traditionally buy multiple physical servers, because virtualization can significantly reduce costs associated with hardware, data centers and other network infrastructure. In addition to saving hard costs, customers also can reduce demands on internal IT personnel who no longer have to manage multiple physical servers and data centers.

DEFCON management services are available initially to existing Layered Tech customers - those who already are Grid Layer VM customers and those who wish to migrate from a dedicated server environment to a virtualization platform. The managed virtual machine offering includes an operating system such as CentOS and a control panel such as cPanel or Plesk; customers will have the option to buy management services for those control panels.

Jack Finlayson, CEO of Layered Tech remarked, ”We are able to offer DEFCON managed services across our suite of hosted infrastructure offerings because Layered Tech has made solid strategic decisions, including our investments in virtualization technologies and our acquisition of FastServers.net. Just like our traditional dedicated server hosted business has stood the test of time, we strongly believe that Layered Tech’s virtualization strategy has already positioned us far ahead of other providers. In fact, virtualization solutions are the fastest-growing segment of our product and service portfolio, and we look forward to continuing to deliver cutting-edge virtualization solutions by working closely with and for our customers.”

Layered Technologies, Inc. is a global provider of on-demand hosting, utility computing solutions and web services. By providing high quality technology, infrastructure and support we enable customers to forego capital expenses and save on operating costs while focusing on core business issues. Layered Technologies’ scalable infrastructure powers millions of sites and Internet enabled applications including e-Commerce, Software as a Service (”SaaS”), content distribution and more. Its clients range from leading-edge Web 2.0 startups, successful mid-sized enterprises and some the world’s largest consultancy and integration firms.

Web Hosting Windows Hyper-V Control Panel, Unveiled at DotNetPanel

Windows hosting control panel product of SMB SAAS Systems, Inc., DotNetPanel, has unveiled its new, first-ever Hyper-V control panel for hosting companies desiring a complete virtualization and VPS solution.

The new DotNetPanel VPS solution is a set of modules designed exclusively for provisioning Virtual Private Servers (VPS) based on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V technology.

Feodor Fitsner, Director of DotNetPanel remarked, ”We are the first control panel development company to build and offer Hyper-V virtualization provisioning software to hosting companies and SaaS providers. Our new Hyper-V enterprise modules provide our customers the ability to create, start, stop, and automate VPS provisioning — all in one control panel.”

System administrators can completely automate VPS provisioning while giving end users a web-based self-service control panel to manage their own servers. The new Hyper-V module supports Virtual Data Center (VDC) mode for hosting, development, testing, and demo purposes. VDC users have full control over their VPS, private, and external networks.

Mr. Fitsner noted, ”Providers now have full control over their virtualization environment at a remarkably low price without sacrificing quality, speed, and uptime. All features and functionality are available in one control panel for complete automation of all business operations.”

DotNetPanel with Hyper-V supports reseller features including custom hosting name patterns, hosting plans with ‘Hyper-V’ resources, customizable ‘VPS Setup Letter’ template, and the ability to add an external network address. End users can view a list of virtual machines, their status, disk space allocation, memory utilization, VPS state, manage VPS Networking, and a dozen other features.

Mr. Fitsner concluded, ”The new DotNetPanel Hyper-V modules offer Enterprise-class virtualization at a fraction of the cost compared to more expensive, complicated systems on the market. DotNetPanel is the only control panel that can automate VPS provisioning in less than ten minutes. Administrators get complete automation of all business cycles: customer sign-up, VPS provisioning, recurring charges, upgrades/downgrades, and bandwidth calculation.”

DotNetPanel is the flagship Windows hosting control panel product of SMB SAAS Systems, Inc., a privately-held independent software vendor that creates innovative products, services, and technologies for Windows hosting companies and Software as a Service providers. DotNetPanel supports Exchange Server 2007, Windows SharePoint Services, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Internet Information Services 7.0, SmarterTools Bundle, and the new VPS solution for complete Enterprise-level automation of virtualization. DotNetPanel offers a free express edition and commercially available standard and enterprise editions.

For more information about DotNetPanel, please visit: www.dotnetpanel.com.